what does it mean when someone says dredge chicken in flour?

Peanut oil has a high smoking point and will withstand the high heat. Fowler suggests using peanut oil, and it worked wonderfully. Chicken cooked in shortening will end up being cooked at lower temperatures, which means more fat absorption and greasier chicken. Vegetable shortening was another choice, but Fowler recommends against it-it has a lower smoking point than most vegetable oils. If the lard is even a slight bit rancid, it will impart an off-taste and have a much lower smoking point. 'Lard's wonderful, but it's hard to find good fresh lard,' says food scientist Shirley Corriher. And, despite its reputed high smoking point, the lard I tried started to smoke long before it hit 375 degrees-the optimum temperature for frying.

But I should have heeded cookbook author Pam Anderson's warning: hot lard smells terrible. Bowing to tradition, I assumed lard would be best. Southern recipes traditionally use lard, but many now call for peanut oil or vegetable shortening. So you should choose a fat that has a high smoking point-you need a high temperature to get a crisp crust. Did the chicken need to be deep-fried or would pan-frying do? How should I bread the chicken pieces? Did I need a special pan? What kind of fat? Choosing a Fat To have sizzle, you must have hot fat. So now I knew about the sizzle, but I still had a host of other questions. Removing the chicken while it's still sizzling assures an almost greaseless crust outside and moist chicken inside. You want to take out the chicken before all the moisture is gone. The steam is produced when moisture in the chicken reacts to the heat. In time you will learn by listening: When the chicken is cooked through, the sizzle sound will start to lessen. Many recipes will tell you how long to cook the chicken. It sounds silly at first, but it makes sense. But if you don't hear a sizzle you're in trouble.

You can flour the chicken, batter it, deep-fry it, pan-fry it, stand over it, cover it. 'Let the chicken talk to you,' says Damon Lee Fowler, author of 'Fried Chicken: The World's Best Recipes From Memphis to Milan, From Buffalo to Bangkok' (Broadway, $15). What was I missing? Turns out, I wasn't listening to the chicken. My chicken was either soggy and overcooked or crispy brown and raw at the bone. But despite numerous attempts, I just could never make fried chicken that satisfied me. By Stephanie Witt Sedgwick February 24, 1999

What does it mean when someone says dredge chicken in flour?